Many fighting game fans, both casual and competitive, decide at some point to ditch the pad for an arcade stick. At one time, the options for American consumers were very limited, but following the release of Street Fighter 4 and subsequent revitalization of the fighting game scene, many new products are available on the market.

Why use a stick in the first place?

Simply put, most fighting game fans find them to be the superior control method. The stick itself is generally considered to be more precise and fluid than a d-pad. Having access to six (or eight) buttons on the control panel is also extremely useful for many advanced techniques in a variety of games. Some of the older, grizzled veterans also prefer them as they grew up playing on arcade parts. The ?authentic feel? is very important to them.

That being said, when most people first change to a stick from a pad, they find their execution suffers in the short-term. This is totally normal! It takes most people a few weeks of practice to get used to playing on a stick. Spend some time in training mode before considering going back to pad, or altering your stick in some manner. You will adjust.

What is the best stick?

The truth is there is no ?best? stick. The answer is subjective. The important thing is understand the differences, so you can make good decisions for yourself.

What is the difference between Japanese and American parts?

In short, Japanese parts tend to be more sensitive and responsive. American parts typically require more effort to move and engage button commands. People generally view Japanese parts to be of higher build quality. That doesn?t mean they are necessarily ?better.? Most of the top Japanese and American players use Japanese arcade parts.

On top of that, these days pretty much all of the commercially available off-the-shelf arcade sticks use Japanese arcade hardware, so they are easier to find.

What is the difference between Sanwa, Seimitsu, and other manufacturers?

Sanwa and Seimitsu are the two largest producers of Japanese arcade hardware. Which should you get? Ideally, try both out and decide which you prefer. If that isn?t an option for you, just get a stick with Sanwa parts. The Madcatz TE stick is full Sanwa stick and buttons and most of the Hori Real Arcade Pro (HRAP) line has a Sanwa stick at minimum. Seimitsu parts also have a lot of fans, but really, you can?t go wrong with Sanwa.

As far as American parts go, ironically the best American parts currently come from a European company, ?iL.? If you?d like to know more about Sanwa, Seimitsu, and the other arcade part companies, consult the essentials thread.

What stick should I buy?

There are basically three price ranges sticks come in: around $50, around $100, and $150+.

Around $50

Get the Mad Catz SE

In the $50 range, you first need to understand that these sticks do not have real arcade parts in them. They use knock off parts. If you want an entry level stick, or aren?t sure how serious you are about fighting games as a hobby, they are good options.

Why the Mad Catz SE? It?s very easy to mod. If you ever decide you want to move on to real arcade hardware, Sanwa and Seimitsu parts more or less drop right in.

Around $100

The around $100 range generally features sticks with arcade parts, full or partial. The big sticks to look out for here are from Mad Catz and Hori.

Mad Catz offers the TE stick, which features a Sanwa stick and buttons. Hori offers the Real Arcade Pro (HRAP) line, which comes in a few flavors. Normal HRAPs have a Sanwa stick, but have Hori (read: knockoff) buttons. HRAP SAs are full Sanwa, stick and buttons. HRAP SEs are full Seimitsu. Both the Mad Catz and Hori lines are easily modded with other parts, so those knockoff parts in the HRAP3 line can be easily dealt with. The HRAP and TE lines also have slightly different button layouts.

You can?t really go wrong with any of them. The one thing the Mad Catz TE has going against it is the lack of backwards compatibility with playing PS2 games on the PS3. Most people don?t use the PS3 for serious play of PS2 games anyway. Other than that, the TE is a solid choice. There are certain specialty mods (dual console modding) that are much easier to do on the TE than the Xbox 360 HRAP line.

$150+

The $150+ range is generally reserved for custom builders. There are a number of excellent custom builders lurking around SRK.

Sticks in this price range are for people who aren?t satisfied with off-the-shelf sticks, or want to have something unique. If you are just getting started in the arcade stick world, these might be more than you want to pay for. They are worth every penny though!

Comments

Im trying to keep these as brief as possible while still being relevant. I understand that most of these could have much longer answers. Please contribute.

Q: Whats the difference in American and Japanese sticks? Which should I choose?
A: This site has a bias toward Japanese sticks and buttons. Japanese parts are also used in every commercially released stick for this generation of consoles. Theyre also used by most tournament players. That being said, theres absolutely nothing wrong with using an American stick. If youre trying to recreate the old arcade feel get a Street Fighter 15th Anniversary stick and upgrade it with Happ/iL parts (or a custom like Arcade in a Box).

Q: Should I use a Sanwa or Seimitsu stick?
A: Theres no right answer to this question. Its a matter of preference. Sanwa sticks are generally preferred for fighting games and are what the SF4 arcade cabinet and Mad Catz TE stick use. Seimitsu sticks are also great for fighters and are widely used in the shooter community due to their harder spring and shorter throw. Try both if you can so you can form your own opinion.

Q: What about buttons? Sanwa or Seimitsu?
A: Same as above: Sanwa are used on SF4/TE. That being said, Sanwa buttons are fairly sensitive. If youre used to resting your fingers on the buttons then Seimitsu offer more resistance.

Q: Whats the different between a Square and Octagonal gate?
A: The gate restricts the movement of Japanese joysticks. If youre initially shocked by the square feel of a Japanese stick then you may want to give an octagonal gate a try. It will have a rounder feel. This also boils down to preference. Most people recommend practicing enough with a square gate to get used to it since it is the norm. Try both to see which you prefer.

Q: Can I use a bat top on my stick?
A: The Sanwa bat top fits on both Sanwa and Seimitsu sticks.

Q: Can I use my PS3 stick on the 360 or visa versa?
A: No, the 360 has a security scheme that only allows licensed controllers. Wired 360 controllers will also not work on the PS3 because they are not HID (driverless) devices. There are converters available from XCM that convert between the two systems but they are not recommended for fighting games due to compatibility issues and dropped button inputs.

Q: What type of stick should I purchase for PC use?
A: Most PS3 and 360 sticks will work fine. Microsoft provides Windows controller drivers for the 360 so these normally work without issues while the PS3 sticks may require workarounds. There are also plenty of PS2 to USB converters if you own an older PS2 stick.

I'm modding an arcade stick for the first time. The arcade stick I'm modding is the Agetec arcade stick for the DreamCast with Sanwa parts. What I'm wondering is how well will either of these two joysticks work with the arcade stick, the Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT-SK and the Sanwa JLF-TP-8T? Also, which of those two arcade sticks are of higher quality or are they the same? Lastly, can you remove the mounting plate from either of the arcade sticks?

I like the way you cleaed some things up for happ/iL based sticks. There are still a contengient of people that prefer the american styled sticks, which can get the idea they are looked down on. Hate to have prople discouraged and say their american style stick is crap. Personally, the lack of a happ based stick kept me from buying one for years. With the help of this forum, I was able to make my own and am quite happy.

Base as in the part that is pushed into the plate on the stick. I guess I just took the measurements the wrong way. I thought the measurements were talking about the width of the top of the button that you play with.

I picked up the MvC TE stick about a week ago and the joystick squeaks when i move it to the left, its not a very loud squeak but it gets pretty irritating after a while. Has anyone else had this problem, or do i just need to break it in? i just noticed it doing this about a day ago.

Base as in the part that is pushed into the plate on the stick. I guess I just took the measurements the wrong way. I thought the measurements were talking about the width of the top of the button that you play with.

I picked up the MvC TE stick about a week ago and the joystick squeaks when i move it to the left, its not a very loud squeak but it gets pretty irritating after a while. Has anyone else had this problem, or do i just need to break it in? i just noticed it doing this about a day ago.

Many report the Left making sound in their TE.
Weird that it is always the left.

Just take apart the Joystick and put back together.
Don't wipe off the grease, because that is lubricant for Joystick.
Unless you have some silicone grease to replace, then don't take off.

this is most likley a very dumb question but, does it make any difference wheather or not you have the stick set to d-pad or left stick?? at first i had it set to left stick and it seemed that i couldnt do certain moves,i chalked this up to not being used to it as i just got it for christmas. but then i switched it to d-pad and it seemed to be easier to excacute some of the sps.
so was i just getting used to it and that was a coincidence, or is their a real appreciable difference??? thanks.

Ok, so can anyone of you long time modders tell me what the fuck this is?

A buddy asked me to see if I could fix his stick, apparently it's a MAS built stick with psx and dreamcast functionality. The PSX cable is kind of jacked up, but when I plug it in there's not much of a response anyhow, and I'm going to figure out if the DC side even works before continuing. I could try fixing the cable, but I'm not going to waste time/shrink wrap on something that may be a dead end anyhow.

Here's what I'm confused about, I was under the impression that DC functionality could only be done with a piggyback (ala Universal PCB w/ DC piggyback), or a direct padhack. Here's what's inside of this stick:

K, that's all that's in there, it's 2 stacked PIC chips, there's no number on the top one and I'm not going to rip of a bunch of shit apart to satisfy a curiosity (especially on something that's not mine).

Now, I'm new to the scene, but again...I thought DC functionality could only come from piggyback, not something like this.

sooo.... wtf is this thing?

edit:

DC side is fine, ps2 side is non-functioning...so I may give the cable fix a shot.

Ok, so can anyone of you long time modders tell me what the fuck this is?

A buddy asked me to see if I could fix his stick, apparently it's a MAS built stick with psx and dreamcast functionality. The PSX cable is kind of jacked up, but when I plug it in there's not much of a response anyhow, and I'm going to figure out if the DC side even works before continuing. I could try fixing the cable, but I'm not going to waste time/shrink wrap on something that may be a dead end anyhow.

Here's what I'm confused about, I was under the impression that DC functionality could only be done with a piggyback (ala Universal PCB w/ DC piggyback), or a direct padhack. Here's what's inside of this stick:

K, that's all that's in there, it's 2 stacked PIC chips, there's no number on the top one and I'm not going to rip of a bunch of shit apart to satisfy a curiosity (especially on something that's not mine).

Now, I'm new to the scene, but again...I thought DC functionality could only come from piggyback, not something like this.

sooo.... wtf is this thing?

edit:

DC side is fine, ps2 side is non-functioning...so I may give the cable fix a shot.

Yeah, that is a MAS stick. I had a person ask me to take a look at his MAS stick because of an PSX issue. I open it up and see the same thing in your picture. I haven't had any experience with it before so there wasn't any thing I could do.

If you still want to, you can look up info about MAS sticks to try to fix whatever problem its having.

Long story short, I've never used a stick at home before, but I'm confortable on them and know they're really the best way to play fighters and shmups, but I'm new and a little hesitant forking over large money for a product I may hardly use?

So should I get the Mad Catz TE or save myself some money and get an SE with a Seimitsu LS3201, and keep the Mad Catz buttons? Are they really that crap? Where I'm from the SE is a LOT cheaper than the TE.

Long story short, I've never used a stick at home before, but I'm confortable on them and know they're really the best way to play fighters and shmups, but I'm new and a little hesitant forking over large money for a product I may hardly use?

So should I get the Mad Catz TE or save myself some money and get an SE with a Seimitsu LS3201, and keep the Mad Catz buttons? Are they really that crap? Where I'm from the SE is a LOT cheaper than the TE.

Did you read the first post? It deals specifically with your question. If it wasn't helpful to you, what could we do to change it?

Long story short, I've never used a stick at home before, but I'm confortable on them and know they're really the best way to play fighters and shmups, but I'm new and a little hesitant forking over large money for a product I may hardly use?

So should I get the Mad Catz TE or save myself some money and get an SE with a Seimitsu LS3201, and keep the Mad Catz buttons? Are they really that crap? Where I'm from the SE is a LOT cheaper than the TE.

As Starcade said, the first post covers your question. If this is your first stick, I would suggest getting a SE and getting new buttons. The SE is rather cheap and isn't too much of an investment. For people who have not used arcade grade parts, the stock stick on the SE isn't too bad. The buttons, however, are garbage and I would swap those out with Seimitsu or Sanwa buttons. You can save even more money buy just buying 6 buttons instead of 8.

Hello all, I've been playing 2d fighters casually a long time and I just decided to get a little competitive and bought a stick. The thing is, I absolutely SUCK with it, to the point I can only cancel a normal into srk < 50% of the time in training mode. I know everybody says give it a while to get used to it but I was hoping I could get a few tips from people who have used them for a while. Anything would be helpful especially hand placement because I really think im moving my fingers around more than im supposed to. PLS HELP!! sorry if this is the wrong thread btw, the title sounded best for what i was wanting to ask

I know it's been covered but personal prefernces would be welcome, what is the best stick if I want to use it for SFIV and Ikaruga? 75% fighters, 25% shmups.
Some say Seimitsu LS3201 is the best all-round whilst others say it's no good for fighters? I'm confused....

Hello all, I've been playing 2d fighters casually a long time and I just decided to get a little competitive and bought a stick. The thing is, I absolutely SUCK with it, to the point I can only cancel a normal into srk < 50% of the time in training mode. I know everybody says give it a while to get used to it but I was hoping I could get a few tips from people who have used them for a while. Anything would be helpful especially hand placement because I really think im moving my fingers around more than im supposed to. PLS HELP!! sorry if this is the wrong thread btw, the title sounded best for what i was wanting to ask

You should really play however you feel most comfortable, and give it time. It is normal to take a long time to get used to using a stick. Here's a thread about it though.

I know it's been covered but personal prefernces would be welcome, what is the best stick if I want to use it for SFIV and Ikaruga? 75% fighters, 25% shmups.
Some say Seimitsu LS3201 is the best all-round whilst others say it's no good for fighters? I'm confused....

You can play shmups or fighters with a JLF or an LS-32 or any other decent stick. Me personally, if I could play using only one stick, and played fighters 75% of the time, it'd be a JLF.

Can i buy the madcatz TE stick at EBgames in Canada? I know this is a question out of laziness cuz i could just go check but hopefully someone can answer this question.

i got mine at eb games and i'm in canada but sadly they only stock 1 even LoL = League of Legends was hard to get I got both my TE and LoL at the eb and now theres no more in stock for anybody else! MWAUHUA! LOL but yeah you can get it but it'll be a hunt. I went to 3 different EB games near me

I also called in to make sure they had it in stock saves you time! LAZY BASTARD STYLE! =]

Hello all, I've been playing 2d fighters casually a long time and I just decided to get a little competitive and bought a stick. The thing is, I absolutely SUCK with it, to the point I can only cancel a normal into srk < 50% of the time in training mode. I know everybody says give it a while to get used to it but I was hoping I could get a few tips from people who have used them for a while. Anything would be helpful especially hand placement because I really think im moving my fingers around more than im supposed to. PLS HELP!! sorry if this is the wrong thread btw, the title sounded best for what i was wanting to ask

There is no magic answer. Hold the stick how it feels comfortable. Go practice.

I know it's been covered but personal prefernces would be welcome, what is the best stick if I want to use it for SFIV and Ikaruga? 75% fighters, 25% shmups.
Some say Seimitsu LS3201 is the best all-round whilst others say it's no good for fighters? I'm confused....

Some people really like LS32s for fighting games. I don't really care for them. You'll find opinions here on this mixed. There really is no "right" answer.

You might consider buying a SE and seeing how the stock parts work for you. It seems like you aren't really hardcore into either fighters or shmups; stock parts are probably fine for a casual player. If you decide you don't really like the stock parts, they are easy to switch out.

And yes, Sanwa/Seimitsu buttons really are better. That's why they cost more. You get what you pay for.

I'm planning on creating my custom stick with an XBOX360 as a case (I saw an avatar from a user and I really liked it, I think it was Kreeeee). Anyway, I have a couple of questions before buying the shell
- Is there plenty of space for dual-mod?
- How do I connect the joystick with the case? (mounting plate for sanwa js is flat, same as surface of xbox360 so I have honestly no idea what to do there.. should I order a different monting plate?) Any pictures about this? (I think this apply also to getho sticks since they use same flat surfaces).
- What are the dimensions of the hole I should drill for the joystick? (I already have the 24mm and 30mm)

Context: Possibly going to mod someone Madcatz SE 360 to work on PS3. I've got very limited soldering experience. I've only put together a few small things like speakers and I've rebuilt a part of a sennheiser PC150 headset. Other than that, I've done a lot of work on computers but very little soldering.

Are they exceptionally difficult? Is it just tedious or do you need some real mad skills?

Please let me know what you think. It would be great if you sent me comments via PM to keep this thread less cluttered. Thanks!

With God, all things are possible.

The words "Hype", "Community", "Salty", and "Troll" have lost meaning due to overuse.

I'm planning on creating my custom stick with an XBOX360 as a case (I saw an avatar from a user and I really liked it, I think it was Kreeeee). Anyway, I have a couple of questions before buying the shell
- Is there plenty of space for dual-mod?
- How do I connect the joystick with the case? (mounting plate for sanwa js is flat, same as surface of xbox360 so I have honestly no idea what to do there.. should I order a different monting plate?) Any pictures about this? (I think this apply also to getho sticks since they use same flat surfaces).
- What are the dimensions of the hole I should drill for the joystick? (I already have the 24mm and 30mm)

Slagcoin has all the info you need concerning drill sizes and ways to mount.

Sorry for the late response, I purchased this soldering iron, the tip won't melt solder majority of the time. The shaft of the removable tip melts solder though. I was thinking maybe I should I buy a new better tip from Weller or something. Thanks

Apart from having to rotate the PCB on the stick to line up with the 5 pin connector, anything else I should know? Would it feel fine, weight etc? Would this be a good modded stick?

Sounds good to me. An all Seimitsu SE stick is a pretty good modded stick, way better than the stock parts. Just make sure to head to the "How to mod the SE" thread for step by step instructions on how to mod it. Other than that, you should be good!

What's the best way of getting art onto a custom stick I'm making that's a dual stick and 36" x 12" big? Should I get plexi made (probably a lot of $$$) or can laminated or glossy art be done? Will it be sticky or fade from use? Stick is wood

Ok so today I got a mayflash stick all the way from Canada.Because the guy offered free shipping to the UK the quality of the shipping was completely horrible and my stick arrived with the actual joystick inside snapped off and loose.

Doesn't matter anyway because I am going to mod it. I have never done any stick modding before which is why I'm in this thread.Basically all I want to do is just put 6 Sanwa buttons and a Sanwa joystick inside it. I just want what's in my TE, put in this stick.

Since you bought the Mayflash stick recently, you most likely have the 2009 PCB. It should say which year it is printed on the PCB. How you wire the joystick and the order of the buttons depends on which PCB revision you have.